A Dead Cat.


Yesterday i stumbled upon a carcass in the cattery...

I was washing the catteries that morning as per normal.
Armed with the water hose in one hand, i went around wetting the third cattery and terrorizing all the cats. As i proceeded to hose down the individual kennels, i noticed this cat lying on his(i am not sure of its gender) side amongst the poo piles.
He was so still and his eyes were blank. Couldn't see the iris.
They looked like green marbles.
He didn't budge when water was sprayed near him.
Damn, something feels wrong.

I put down the hose and squatted down.
I nudged him on the shoulder. He was dead.
His body was so stiff i couldn't have mistaken.
It wasn't soft like how all the other cats felt like when you carried/stroked them.
Then i went out to get disposable gloves and newspapers to carry him out.
I tried to close his eyes but failed. His body wasn't cold, neither was it warm.
All i know was that it was really stiff and lifeless.
His limbs didn't dangle freely, it was like branches on a tree.
Then i thought about dead people.
It's definitely not a good feeling to touch a carcass and to realise that whatever has happened is irreversible.
It's not disgusting per se but the feeling of utter helplessness is pretty overwhelming.
I didn't know this cat, but what if, just what if, one day someone i cared for died in front of me?

After putting him in a garbage bag, i grieved over his loss for about ten seconds.
Then, i moved on with life.
It was almost similar to passing by a void-deck funeral and looking at the photo of someone you have never seen in your life or reading about the tragic death of someone in the newspapers.
We move on after a walking few steps in the former, and we move on after finishing the article in the latter.

Just a brief recount of my first encounter touching a carcass that is not an invertebrate.